IT News

Financial technology (fintech) jobs are showing no signs or drying up amidst the Brexit transition.

Increase in fintech jobs

German recruitment website, Joblift, has found that there has been a 5% increase in financial technology jobs in the UK every month, with London making up most of this.

Despite fears that Brexit would affect the finance sector, and in particular the technology side of it, fintech companies are still recruiting in London.

Berlin looking to challenge London

Berlin, which is the closest major city to competing with London’s reputation as the fintech hub of the world, also saw an increase in jobs. The study found overall though that London advertised more than double the amount of jobs compared to Berlin.

Joblift commented that “Berlin has been touted as London’s major competitor for the title of Europe’s fintech hub, given uncertain Brexit effects and Berlin’s expanding startup scene,” but conceded that “…research shows that London trumps the German capital in both the number of jobs being posted and, more surprisingly, the rate of job market growth.”

Unrestricted access to European markets

The growth in recruitment for fintechs in London suggests that while banks are preparing to move operations out of Great Britain to ensure ease of access to European markets, jobs in financial technology are still going strong.

The reason companies, especially banks, are moving UK jobs abroad is to ensure they can still sell services across europe without any restrictions. Potential cities for London jobs include Paris, Dublin and Frankfurt.

Fintech’s worries around Brexit are to do with them ensuring that whoever they hire is at the required skill level. If Brexit does indeed affect the talent pool, then it could start to become an issue.

Startup hubs

Countries in the EU are looking to take advantage of the uncertainty Brexit is causing the EU by investing in startup hubs that will help nurture entrepreneurs in the IT industry.

Sweden, for example, has attracted the highest number of fintech investments in the last five years, with Stockholm in particular gaining a reputation as a fintech hotspot. Amsterdam is another that is growing.